Smile
by theonewhosawitall
Summary: Before Adrien was Chat Noir and before Marinette was Ladybug, there were others. Not all of them ended happily. The one that sticks with Tikki is the one that still gives her doubts about Adrien. This is her story.


Long before Marinette, there were other Ladybug's. They went by various names, all of them chose their own. Some were more creative than others, some were often repeated. "Ladybug" had happened three times, including Marinette. Only twice had "Ladybug" had "Chat Noir" too. An ally. Or so they thought.

This Ladybug, was just older than Marinette, and if possible, more naive. Her hair was yellow as wheat fields, her eyes like sunshine through whisky, with freckles on her cheeks and a dimple on her chin. Her Chat Noir was just that. His hair was dark as night, his eyes silver like the moon, his skin smooth and auburn. A dark knight in matching armour.

The very first time they met, he scared her. He was sullen, and serious, and immune to her light hearted humour. He barely spoke, except to use his cataclysm. Ladybug watched in horrified fascination as the pillar turned black and crumbled into dust. Utterly destroyed. He stood before her, hidden by his mask, and watched, expectantly, for her to fix it. She licked her chapped lips anxiously, and let her lucky charm go.

Waves of light twirled through the air, miraculously righting every wrong created in the fight. Chat nodded his head, as if to acknowledge that this was over, and left without an introduction.

By the third time they met, Ladybug was determined to find a way to make him smile. It was as if he didnt know how to. He hardly ever glanced her way, until it was time for a lucky charm. Then he let her take over. Clean up the trouble. For a while thats all they did. He was the power, she was the clean up crew.

"Don't worry," Tikki would say, smiling, "he's your partner, he's probably just defending himself."

He had to keep himself hidden, after all. Ladybug knew the feeling. It was difficult sometimes. There were balls she was expected to attend, things she was expected to do, but she never complained. Being Ladybug was an honour. She had been chosen. She loved it.

"I will make that boy smile, if it's the last thing i do," she vowed.

And she tried. Dear God did she try. She learned how to cartwheel to add some slapstick into their routines. When he barked for her to distract someone she would tap dance. Once she dared to steal his staff and perform Ragtime Gal while on the roof of a speeding train heading for a broken track that would DEFINATELY be fatal. He didnt laugh. He didnt crack a smile. He didnt even watch. Instead, he scowled and snatched his staff back when she had healed everything else.

Ladybug didnt give up. She was determined. Every time they were summoned, she went racing after him, headlong into the fight. The day the Fisherman summoned his river monsters to attack their city, Ladybug was delighted.

"I bet this is your dream fight!" She teased the cat.

He didnt reply, but went racing towards the Fisherman, who threw a fishing net over his head, and hoisted him up above their heads, to flap like a fish.

"Oh no! Its a cat trap!" She grinned.

"GET THE ROD!" He yelled.

"Aww i thought you were gonna say get the hook, that would have been funnier," she whined.

"Destroy the rod!" He shouted.

"I know! This isnt my first fish fight!"

Ladybug threw the yo-yo to attach herself to a lamppost, and tugged herself up over the crowd of river monsters baying for blood, into a smaller one. It was easiest to fight this lot. She just grabbed one by the tail and spun it around like a barrier in total wipe-out.

"Like shooting fish in a barrel!" She beamed.

Ladybug used her lucky charm and caught the rod as Chat cataclysmed his way free from the net to run to her side. She snapped the rod without him, and caught the akuma alone. He wasn't needed. Then she cleaned up her own mess for a change.

Chat looked around slowly. His entire existence was validated by the defeat of these creatures. Now they had been defeated without him. He wasn't sure how to feel.

"I wasnt sure about being given a little girl for a partner. I didnt think you'd be strong enough. This is impressive,"

"Was that a compliment? Something smells fishy," she said, suspiciously.

Chat Noir groaned heavily. He turned his back on her, his miraculous beeping already. "You're lucky youre cute. Otherwise those puns would get you nowhere."

Ladybug watched him go, awed. Her chest was glowing and her smile was so bright it blocked out the sun. Chat thought she was cute... She couldn't wait for their next adventure.

Weeks turned into months, and Chat Noir got more talkative when Ladybug was around. She fought with him, side by side, proving herself to be just as strong as him, and cleaning up the mess again. They were given the key to the city for their hard work.

Ladybug hung it proudly on her wall, glowing with joy that she and Chat had earned it together. She was growing fond of him. Of how strong and stoic he was. Handsome too in the right light. Yet every time she tried to picture his smile, she couldn't. It annoyed her that she couldn't, and gave her the resolve to try more. To make him proud of her. To make him smile because of that pride. Because she was a strong hero, like him, but goofy and playful, like sunshine.

He was like the moon to her. Silent and beautiful, constantly over watching everything, even on dark nights. She looked at him with the kind of awe she couldn't find anywhere else. He never seemed to notice. One day she blinked, and they'd been fighting for three years together. Not one had he smiled. Age seemed to make him harder to crack.

"Look at me! I should join a circus!" She laughed as she balanced along the tightrope she had created.

"Don't fall and break your neck!" He warned in a harsh tone.

"I'm sure you'd catch me. Cats have good reflexes," she grinned.

He rolled his eyes. There was nothing left to fight. They were wasting their last few minutes of anonymity on each other. Sharing in the bliss of a secret life before it had to be over.

"Where is your kwami? What's your miraculous?" He asked, calmly.

"Curiosity kills cats," she warned.

"Id like to see it try," he hissed.

She giggled, and swung down to the ground. She stood infront of him with her hands on her hips and a grin on her face.

"Guess."

Chat Noir hummed thoughtfully. He glanced her up and down, searching for anything that could hide a kwami. His was a ring. One that currently had two pads left. Nothing on her had a Ladybug on it. Or, more specifically, EVERYTHING on her had a ladybug on it. Anything could have been a miraculous.

Thats when her earring flashed.

His eyebrow rose and there was a new light in his eyes. She had picked up on that gleam before. That's what appeared instead of a smile. That shine made her heart shine. That was how close she was to making him really smile, and she adored it.

"Your earrings," he raised a hand and tapped it, with his claw, "you have one spot left."

"Then i have to fly. Catch you later kitty," Ladybug winked.

He didnt respond, but watched her go. These small conversations made the time glide by. Slowly but surely she was peeling back the layers to get him to reveal more about himself.

When he was thrown from a two story building, she was there to clean his wounds and bind his arm. After cleaning everything else up that is.

"Cats usually land on their feet. This is a little high up for feet," she teased.

"My feet are fine. They let me handle everything with grace," Chat retorted.

"I hear cats are graceful when they move. Are you?" Ladybug teased.

His voice was tight as he admitted, "I like to dance."

She raised an eyebrow. He liked something?! And dancing of all things! She smiled.

"I like to dance too. Maybe we can dance together sometime," she suggested.

"I'd like that. It'd be killer," he stated.

Ladybug chuckled. Chat Noir wasnt very good at slang. He was a little too blunt about things, but he tried.

"Then it's a dance. Find me a ball, and I'll bring you one made of yarn," she winked.

Chat Noir didnt smile. He winced. She apologised. Once the bandage was smooth Ladybug leaned down and kissed it gently.

"A magic, healing kiss, to make it all better," she winked.

"Yes, for you fix everything, don't you ladybug? It's very impressive," he said.

She smiled proudly. She could feet him using that cataclysm of his to break his way through her chest to steal her heart. One smile and she'd give it away willingly.

"He's perfect Tikki. Hes handsome and brave and strong and loyal and I love him. But imagine those wedding photos! No matter how dashing he looks in a normal suit, without those ears on his head, that serious look will ruin the pictures," Ladybug complained.

"The happiest day of his life will always look miserable," Tikki giggled, "at least he'll be handsome."

"Very handsome," Ladybug agreed.

She gave a dreamy sigh at the picture in her head. Her strong and handsome partner with his ring as his wedding ring instead of just a miraculous. Their gorgeous children, a girl and a boy, Luna and Samson. Children of the sun and the moon. Ladybug and Chat Noir. Blessed children. Tikki giggled at that look of love on her face. She never knew someone could be quite so love struck.

"Hey, love-bug, there's your hero now. Looks like its time to transform," Tikki pointed to a definite fight happening outside.

"Tikki, spots on," Ladybug grinned.

There was gallantry as the two of them fought together. Like two sides of the same coin. He made a mess, she erased it. She grinned at him.

"Way to go team!"

He didn't smile, but nodded, to acknowledge this. "There's a ball tomorrow. Would you like to attend with me?" He asked.

Ladybug felt her heart beat faster. "Like... like dance with you?"

"Yes. Thats what happens at balls. Please dont bring yarn though," he warned.

She beamed, excitedly, feeling blood rush to her cheeks. "Y-yes I'd love to dance with you!"

He nodded again, still no signs of a smile. "Until tomorrow then."

In the privacy of her own house, Tikki and Ladybug celebrated excitedly. This was the first step to everything she wanted.

"I'm sure i can make him smile. All i have to do is kiss him," she declared, firmly.

"You can do it girl, i believe in you!" Tikki grinned.

The faith of her kwami didnt help her much as she stepped into the ballroom. It was a masked ball, so she got to wear a mask, but not the rest of her costume. It was more than a little nerve racking as she held her bag in her hands, and felt her petticoats swish around her ankles. She kept an eager eye out for the flashes of green that would reveal her cat to her. He cleared his throat. She spun around in surprise. He was behind her. Ladybug giggled, sheepishly.

"I didn't see you there. You look wonderful!" She said.

He did. He had a deep green bowtie, a neat green shirt, and a black waistcoat hidden behind a black suit jacket, and a black mask across his eyes. He was ever so dashing. His cool eyes glanced up and down her outfit. It was a ball grown, deep maroon, with black spots. Like a ladybug. Like her mask. Like her.

Subtle clearly wasnt in her vocabulary.

"Would you like to dance?" He asked, calmly.

Internally she was screaming, but externally, she calmly took his hand, and grinned.

"While the mice are away, the cat will play," she winked.

He rolled his eyes, but the gleeful light was back, so she assumed it was affectionate. He bowed. She curtsied. He took her hand, and laid the other on her waist. She moved in close against him. As the music began, they waltzed, as if they had been built to waltz together. Perfect partners, in every way. Her heart beat in time with the tune.

He was holding her close.

His lips were inches away from hers.

At any moment, she could reach up and kiss him. Surely then he would smile.

"I assumed you would come as Ladybug. Not just dressed like her," he explained.

"You're not as Chat Noir," she pointed out.

"I am. This mask is my mask. My ears are beneath my hat," he said.

"Oh!"

She stared up at his hat, wondering how she hadn't noticed him wearing it before. Of course she had just looked into his eyes, searching for that hint of a smile, and gotten lost in them. Thats how.

"Is it strange to be without your kwami?" Chat asked, casually.

Ladybug frowned. "Without her? I'm not."

"You're not without her?"

"No. Never."

"Then where is she hidden?"

Ladybug's naivety came into play. She knew she shouldn't tell anyone about Tikki, but this was Chat Noir! This was the man she loved, who would one day be her husband. Surely he didnt count.

"She's in my bag. Safe and sound."

Chat Noir's eyes darted to the bag. "Ah. So you're unprotected?"

She frowned, amused, "not as long as i have you around to protect me."

He didn't smile. "Me?"

She did smile. "You."

Slowly, hesitantly, her heart racing, she reached up, and kissed him. Softly. Almost afraid too. After a moment, he kissed her back. A tender moment of affection. She pulled back, grinning like the Cheshire cat. Her ears were pink and her dimple was clear, and her heart could out race a hummingbird.

"Oh Ladybug... you shine so brightly you put everyone in the shade," he said.

Ladybug frowned slightly. She wasnt sure what he meant, but it sounded nice. At the corner of his mouth, there was a twitch. A twitch that made her chest tight.

A smile!

She had made him smile!

His smile was so cute and genuine, she could feel it pressing against her chest, and lifting her heart free of her rip cage, to hand willingly to him. That soft, evil smirk, laid her naïve heart right in his palm.

"Cataclysm," he whispered.

Ladybug's smile fell slowly. She felt his hand, his real hand, against her chest, her real chest. Against her heart. Turning it cold, and black, and crumbling. Ladybug choked. Her lungs gave away first. She felt them heave, and collapse, useless without a heartbeat. Then her legs. She couldn't stand anymore. There wasnt enough air. She collapsed into his arms, against him. Him. The man she loved. The man she wished to marry. Him with that evil smile.

As he lowered her to the floor he explained, in a harsh hiss, why he had destroyed her.

"You took away my shine. You stole my thunder and made yourself lightning. I was supposed to be beloved. You were just there to clean up the mess. Then you even took the key to the city - my city! So I'm taking these instead."

Ladybug was helpless to stop him taking her earrings. He clutched them in his palm, and smiled that poisonous smile she had been so desperate to see.

"It's not personal," he smirked. "It's a total eclipse in my heart."

Tikki vanished as soon as the earrings were taken. Chat slipped them into his pocket, and turned to walk away from the girl he left on the dance floor. A single tear ran down her warm freckles. From an eye that would be glassy forevermore...

Plagg glanced over at Tikki as they watched Marinette and Adrien race around the playground playing capture the flag. There was a look of concern on her face. He glanced back out of the window. Marinette had tripped and fallen into Adrien's arms. He held her upright, with a hand on her waist, and a hand in hers. She knew he was probably making some silly pun that would make her giggle. Those two had no trouble making one another grin. Or pink for that matter.

But sometimes, the odd pun, or one of those stolen glances, or the daydream plans marinette made for her future with adrien, it brought it all rushing back. She couldn't help worrying.

Plagg avoided Tikki during that time, and half a century after. He had known what his kitten was planning and, evil or not, he still loved him. But that love brought so much shame that he wished he didnt. But this kitten, Adrien, he was good. He knew that. Plagg reached for her hand.

"Do you want to hear a sappy poem Adrien wrote for ladybug?" He offered.

Tikki knew he knew what she was thinking. She wasnt a fool. But she was grateful that he was there this time, to remind her that Adrien wasn't that Chat. That he was better.

"Sure," Tikki smiled, "it cant be worse than yours."


End file.
